While Andre Brown has performed exceptionally well in the four games he has played for the Giants since returning from a broken left fibula, the fifth-year running back expects to see even more improvement.

“I still feel like I’m just scratching the surface of what my potential can be, and that comes with more playing time, more experience, more games,” he said after practice on Friday as Big Blue prepared to fly west and face the Chargers on Sunday. “I look at it, I’m still young because I haven’t been playing that many years. [My] first year [playing] was last year, but this is my fifth if you look at it in the league.”

“When you get your opportunity, you take advantage of it. When I’m healthy, I feel like I’m up there with the best of them. I’m going to continue to go, week after week.”

Brown, 26, a fourth round pick of the Giants in 2009, began the season on injured reserve after suffering his second broken leg in as many years in the team’s preseason finale against the Packers. He enters the home stretch of the season as the Giants’ feature back, the sixth back they have used this year, and possibly the team’s future tailback, too.

To say it has been a strange year for Brown would be an understatement.

Brown has given Big Blue a huge boost since his return Nov. 10, running for 343 yards on 83 carries, which equates to 4.1 per carry, and scoring three touchdowns.

It’s no coincidence the Giants have won three of the four games he has played, and even in the lone loss, to the Cowboys, Brown ran for a career-high 127 yards.